Make it go away.

If you are in pain, no doubt you wish it would go away. We've invented lots of ways to do just that. Some not so healthy. In all cases, we need to clearly define what 'it' is exactly. Pain is an internally generated response telling us that something is wrong. Perhaps we'd best find out what is wrong before discarding the message?

Pain is your friend.

As it comes from you, it must be for you. Pain is signaling you to take notice and make corrections before it's too late. If you listen and respond, you'll have a much better chance of fixing the problem.

Over here. That's it.

Pain will often lead you to the source of the problem. Listening will guide you to the problem as well as the solution. It takes some knowledge and practice but some basic rules are that pain appears at or downstream (away from center) from the source of the problem. Pain that "screams out" is more likely to be acute and severe requiring more immediate attention. Pain that is achy and tight is more likely a chronic issue requiring a less intense approach over a more extended time. Pain will often occur during or after the causative factor helping teach you to do things wiser. If you listen.

This is serious.

The amount of pain will indicate the severity. Very sharp, throbbing, burning pain is serious. Numbness and weakness too. Naturally we learn appropriate responses to pain as we get older, but we also learn to live with inappropriate pains all of the time. Repetitive stresses, stiffness, and inflexibility are serious as they wear and tear on the body making it more susceptible and taking away from our longevity and quality of life.